A considerable level of international experience has been gained over the last decades in designing radioactive waste disposal facilities. This publication is intended to assist Member States in planning for the disposal of radioactive waste. Specifically, this publication describes the approaches and principles to be considered by the responsible organizations within a Member State involved in the planning and design of radioactive waste disposal facilities. Examples are provided for all waste classes requiring disposal. The examples are based on successfully implemented designs or on design concepts that are sufficiently advanced to demonstrate their overall feasibility for the safe disposal of radioactive waste. Alternate disposal options are also discussed, describing solutions that rely on the conversion of existing facilities, such as mines or other underground openings as well as the potential for disposal in boreholes.

Any unwanted material that turns out to be toxic, radioactive, explosive, irritating to the respiratory system, carcinogenic and has a negative effect on the environment as well as harmful to human life is called hazardous waste. Developing countries are quickly becoming industrialized and the number of factories is increasing. One common thing in all of these countries is the creation of waste from in huge quantities from industries, hospitals, as well as households. This waste often becomes hazardous easily due to poor solid waste mechanisms put in place. This in turn poses a great danger to the life of humans, animals, and the environment with several cases of injury and sometimes death being reported. Mostly in these developing countries, the main types of hazardous waste are industrial and medical waste. However, there is also a significant amount of household waste being produced daily. Industrial waste is mainly from the numerous processing and manufacturing factories which release solid, liquid and gaseous waste daily. Medical waste is mainly from hospitals and health facilities which is increasing with more people seeking medical care every day. Back at their homes the people also create large amounts of waste. And despite there being designated dumping areas, crude dumping is a norm which increases risks. Some factories also send their liquid waste directly to rivers without treating it. Others release gases and smoke into the atmosphere which increases the effects of global warming. Interestingly, there are laws and policies that govern waste management in these developing countries. However, due to policies not being implemented well, lack of resources and sometimes ignorance by the people, the risks arising from poor waste management are always prevalent. Any waste should be well controlled from the point of production and well stored until it's transported to the ultimate point of disposal. This is not always the case in developing countries whose waste disposal methods being unregulated and unconventional. For example, the owner of a household may not know about segregation of non-hazardous and hazardous wastes. He or she therefore puts all waste in one container and maybe burns it, not knowing there was an explosive waste in the batch. This of course exposes people to more risk. Health facilities have incinerators and pits where they securely dispose all their waste. However, . investigations show that not all of them carry our proper disposal of their waste posing much danger to the environment and life. Despite legislation being in place to control waste management, it seems there needs more to be done to not only reduce the amount of waste being produced but also to manage it and make it non-hazardous. This includes education to the population, segregation of waste, taking tough measures on all those who disregard these policies, allocating more resources to the waste management departments and inclusion of technology as a means of waste management. The technology in developing countries may not be as effective as it is in the developed countries, but with proper use of the current one available to them can make a huge difference. There are sites marked as waste disposal sites, however, all these lie misused where you find them filled to capacity and spilling over but not being emptied. With flies buzzing all over and a strong stink polluting the air, this is very hazardous. However, with the use of innovative technology, this is easily manageable. Through the use of conventional ways of disposal such as incineration, landfilling or even treating waste in factories before releasing it, great strides can be made in making waste less hazardous or non-hazardous at all. This includes developing mechanisms that are sustainable and applicable even at the household level.

Starting with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident, Oil Spill Impacts: Taxonomic and Ontological Approaches chronicles a timeline of events that focus on the impact of oil spills and provides an understanding of these incidents using a number of approaches. The book includes an interdisciplinary oil spill taxonomy, an oil spill topic map, and highlights information-organization tools, such as indexes, taxonomies, and topic maps that can be used to connect information resources with concepts of interest. The topic map combines the function of ontology with the function of organized information resources, and contains thousands of concepts and their relationships extracted from approximately 300 documents stemming from various academic conference presentations, journal articles, news reports, and web pages. Divided into four parts, the book begins with a brief introduction of the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill events followed by a breakdown of the taxonomy concepts distributed into categories and their subcategories. The book then describes the oil spill topic map separated by concepts, relationships, and references. This interdisciplinary reference provides to its readers: The perspective of multiple disciplines instead of just one discipline An indication of the most important topics in the oil spill domain Developed research in the oil spill and oil drilling areas A broad and detailed view of oil spill issues The book serves students, teachers, and researchers interested in oil spill issues, oil spill incidents, and addresses their impacts that involve coastal and marine environmental sciences, biological sciences, chemistry, disaster management, geology, sociology, and government policy.

Providing an introduction, the scientific background, case studies and future perspectives of in-situ arsenic remediation technologies for soils, soil water and groundwater at geogenic and anthropogenic contaminated sites. The case studies present in-situ technologies about natural arsenic, specifically arsenate and arsenite, but also about organic arsenic compounds. This work covers geochemical, microbiological and plant ecological solutions for arsenic remediation. It will serve as a standard textbook for (post-)graduate students and researchers in the field of Environmental Sciences and Hydrogeochemistry as well as researchers, engineers, environmental scientists and chemists, toxicologists, medical scientists and even for general public seeking an in-depth view of arsenic which had been classed as a carcinogen. This book aims to stimulate awareness among administrators, policy makers and company executives of in-situ remediation technologies at sites contamined by arsenic and to improve the international cooperation on the subject.

In this book, first published in 1983, three independent scientists examine the results of research and development into the environmental aspects of hazardous wastes management. Within a legislative framework, the limits of our scientific knowledge are carefully defined and the ways in which this knowledge is extrapolated and applied are examined. Significant areas of uncertainty are identified and the authors have not been afraid to draw attention to the fallibility of certain interpretations. Landfill science, leachate characteristics, pollutant attenuation and toxicity measurement are reviewed. Alternative technologies such as chemical treatment and incineration are compared. Risk assessment, cost implications and public acceptance are examined. It provides an objective assessment of the scientific and practical issues involved and constitutes a valuable source book for all concerned with hazardous wastes management, planning and regulatory control, pollution prevention and environmental protection.

Graphite is widely used in the nuclear industry and in research facilities and this has led to increasing amounts of irradiated graphite residing in temporary storage facilities pending disposal. This publication arises from a coordinated research project (CRP) on the processing of irradiated graphite to meet acceptance criteria for waste disposal. It presents the findings of the CRP, the general conclusions and recommendations. The topics covered include graphite management issues, characterization of irradiated graphite, processing and treatment, immobilization and disposal. Included on the attached CD-ROM are formal reports from the participants.

This Safety Guide provides operating organizations that generate and manage radioactive waste as well as regulatory bodies and government bodies with recommendations on how to meet the requirements for the predisposal management of radioactive waste generated at nuclear power plants and research reactors (including subcritical and critical assemblies). It covers all stages in the lifetime of waste management facilities, including their siting, design, construction, commissioning, operation, and shutdown and decommissioning. It covers all steps carried out in the management of radioactive waste following its generation up to (but not including) disposal, including its processing (pre-treatment, treatment and conditioning). Radioactive waste generated during normal operation and in accident conditions is considered.

This publication explores the implications of decommissioning in the light of unexpected events and the trade-off between activities to reduce them and factors militating against any such extra work. It classifies and sets out some instances where unexpected findings in a decommissioning programme led to a need to either stop, or reconsider the work, re-think the options, or move forward on a different path. It provides practical guidance in planning and management of decommissioning taking into account unexpected events. This guidance includes an evaluation of the experience and lessons learned in tackling decommissioning that is often neglected. Thus it will enable future decommissioning teams to adopt the relevant lessons to reduce additional costs, time delays and radiation exposures.

Decommissioning is the last step in the lifetime management of a facility. It must also be considered during the design, construction, commissioning and operation of facilities. This publication establishes requirements for the safe decommissioning of a broad range of facilities: nuclear power plants, research reactors, nuclear fuel cycle facilities, facilities for processing naturally occurring radioactive material, former military sites, and relevant medical, industrial and research facilities. It addresses all the aspects of decommissioning that are required to ensure safety, aspects such as roles and responsibilities, strategy and planning for decommissioning, conduct of decommissioning actions and termination of the authorization for decommissioning. It is intended for use by those involved in policy development, regulatory control and implementation of decommissioning.

This publication is a revision of an earlier Safety Guide of the same title issued in 1994. It recommends revised waste management strategies that reflect changes in practices and approaches since then. It sets out a classification system for the management of waste prior to disposal and for disposal, driven by long term safety considerations. It includes a number of schemes for classifying radioactive waste that can be used to assist with planning overall national approaches to radioactive waste management and to assist with operational management at facilities.

This book addresses scientists and engineers involved in the areas of uranium mining and milling sites, clean-up measures, emissions of nuclear power plants and radioactive waste disposal, as well as political decision-makers. The topics covered are: impact on groundwater from radionuclide emission, analytical speciation techniques, chemical toxicity, radioisotope plant uptake, microbiology catalyzing U(6+) to U(4+) reduction, geochemical and reactive transport, case studies on abandoned uranium mines and milling sites, long-term storage of radioactive waste, passive in situ treatment techniques and risk assessment studies.